She believes her life was.
Saved by pallets of.
Printed paper that took.
The worst of the explosion.
She was emotional.
Sobbing then trying to smile.
Traumatised by everything.
That has happened to her.
A body bag was.
Being carried out of.
The remains of.
A burning print factory.
Less than an hour.
After ‘orcs’ hit it with.
A series of missiles on.
The afternoon of the 23 May.
Seven people were killed.
In the attack.
The missiles that hit the factory.
Were not intercepted.
Nor was an ‘orcs’ drone.
That was operating.
Above the factory before.
After and during the attack.
She believes her life was.
Saved by pallets of.
Printed paper that took.
The worst of the explosion.
She was emotional.
Sobbing then trying to smile.
Traumatised by everything.
That has happened to her.
In the yard.
As firefighters went into.
The building to damp down.
The blaze and search for more bodies.
The head of the Kharkiv oblast police.
Could barely contain his anger.
“All missiles hit their target.
They weren’t shot down.”
“Why? Because.
The arrival time of missiles.
From the Belgorod region.
Is approximately 40 seconds.”
“Those missiles can only.
Be shot down by.
The Patriot air defence system.
Which we don’t have here.”
He called ‘Mordor’.
“The sub-empire of.
Vandals and orcs…
The resident evil.”
She believes her life was.
Saved by pallets of.
Printed paper that took.
The worst of the explosion.
She was emotional.
Sobbing then trying to smile.
Traumatised by everything.
That has happened to her.
Days later.
She was still.
Being treated in hospital.
For her wounds.
Much of her.
Visible skin was showing.
Visible wounds from.
Shrapnel and blast.
And her hair was singed.
Where it had caught fire.
She was one of the workers.
At the printing plant.
“I wasn’t afraid of.
Anything at all.
But now I’m even afraid.
To be in Kharkiv.”
“I still hoped that ‘Mordor’.
Was not a terrorist state.
And that they attacked.
Only military targets.”
“But they hit the civilians.”
“But they hit the civilians.”
“I thank the United States.
For helping us.”
“I’m grateful to Germany.
And all the countries.
Of the world for.
What they’ve done.”
“But we are helpless.
And we have nothing.
We’re suffering so much…
We can’t defend ourselves.”
She believes her life was.
Saved by pallets of.
Printed paper that took.
The worst of the explosion.
She was emotional.
Sobbing then trying to smile.
Traumatised by everything.
That has happened to her.
*Because I read “Jeremy Bowen: Ukraine faces its worst crisis since the war began” by Jeremy Bowen on 28 May 2024, and also “Why are Ukrainians calling Russians ‘orcs’?” by James FitzGerald on 30 Apr 2022, on the BBC news.
So, I wrote this poem, including a story of Volodymyr Tymoshko, and a story of Olena.
Please read the original story on the BBC news:
Ukraine war: Kharkiv targeted as Russia grows in strength (bbc.com)
**My friend kindly shows you this poem in one page of the Ukrainian website for their children and others!
Please join them! You can read my 100 poems here at once.
